Judy Neiman with a picture of her daughter Sydnee (Source: Yahoo News)

They suspect cost is the driving force

Even though the regulations for backup cameras in new vehicles is near, grieving parents and safety advocates want to know what the heck has taken so long.

The rearview camera mandate would make it so every vehicle would have a backup camera for seeing behind the vehicle when in reverse. The idea was triggered by the 300 deaths and 16,000 injuries annually caused by a driver's inability to see behind their vehicle when backing up. Many of the injuries and death affect young children and senior citizens.

Judy Neiman, 53, of West Richland, Washington, is just one of the many people who have experienced a tragic death due to driving a car in reverse without properly checking her surroundings before backing up. She accidentally backed over and killed her 9-year-old daughter, Sydnee.

"They have to do something, because I've read about it happening to other people. I read about it and I said, 'I would die if it happens to me,'" said Neiman. "Then it did happen to me."

The White House is doing something about it, but there have been several delays in regulating the use of these cameras. The rearview camera regulations date back to 2007, when Congress initially approved legislation to set these standards by February 28, 2011. This date was delayed to February of this year, and again to December 31.

While the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) are both behind the making of these new standards, others, namely automakers, have worried that the cost of installing these cameras on each vehicle would drive the price up too high. Parents and safety advocates blame worries regarding cost for the delays in safety.

NHTSA estimated that adding backup cameras to every car would add $58 to $88 to the price of vehicles that have an existing dashboard display screens. It would cost $159 to $203 for those without them.

In the meantime, Neiman grieves over her lost child who had survived four open-heart surgeries like a champ, but was eventually killed due to her mistake. She couldn't see her 4-foot tall daughter behind her van when pulling out of the garage.

The one thing I have to say about 1 is this, I take calls while driving sometimes, but I never let them go longer than 15-20 seconds. If I'm making a call I have a specific thing to say/ask, I get the answer and I hang up. If someone is calling me I answer them as quickly as possible, if they want to talk I tell them I'm driving and I'll call them back. End of story.

I don't see using the phone while dirivng as a problem, it's people who don't STOP using it that are the problem.

As for roundabouts, there was a proposal in my town recently to put a pair of roundabous in the MIDDLE of the highway to town. That got shot down REALLY fast. The people who are designing out roads must be obsessed with them because the revised design used them for the interchange, which has all the same problems you're talking about.